painlessly
|pain-less-ly|
🇺🇸
/ˈpeɪnləsli/
🇬🇧
/ˈpeɪn.ləs.li/
(painless)
without pain
Etymology
'painlessly' originates from English, specifically formed from the adjective 'painless' plus the adverbial suffix '-ly', where 'painless' comes from the noun 'pain' combined with the suffix '-less' meaning 'without'.
'painless' developed in Middle English from 'payne/peine' (from Old French 'paine/peine') combined with Old English/Old Germanic suffix '-less' (Old English '-lēas'), and later the adverbial suffix '-ly' was added to form 'painlessly'.
Initially the elements meant 'pain' (from Latin 'poena' via Old French) and 'without'; over time the compound 'painless' came to mean 'without physical pain' and was extended figuratively to mean 'without difficulty', a sense carried by 'painlessly'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adverb 1
in a way that causes little or no physical pain; without discomfort or suffering.
The tooth was extracted painlessly under local anesthesia.
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Adverb 2
without difficulty, effort, or disturbance; smoothly or easily (figurative use).
The transition to the new system proceeded painlessly for most users.
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Last updated: 2025/08/28 06:22